Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Last night, the Boston Bruins sent defenseman, Nick Boynton and a 4th round pick to Phoenix for Paul Mara and a conditional 3rd round pick.

Boynton, who has had numerous hard times with Bruin management in regards to contracts and such is now free in Phoenix to somewhat resurrect his career. Only collecting 12 points in 54 games last season, Boynton hasn't really ever made it to his potential in the league. He was supposed to have a major offensive upside to him, but 30 points is the best he ever mustered.

Mara, on the other hand, has been a little bit more dependable on the back end for the Coyotes for the last four seasons, registering his best 47 points last season in 78 games. Mara, who had found a little more on his upside in his career should fit in well in Boston.

I only wonder how the Bruins got Mara AND a 3rd rounder for Boynton and a 4th rounder. It seems to me that the Bruins got the top end of this deal, unless for some reason the Coyotes were really trying to unload Mara. Mara is the better of the two d-men and a 3rd rounder is better than a 4th rounder, potentially.Technorati TagsNHLHockey PoolTradesBoston BruinsPhoenix Coyotes

Sunday, June 25, 2006

A deal like this doesn't exactly bode very differently in the pool sense, except Bertuzzi may have a better season away from the legal challenges in Florida. We all knew that Vancouver goaltending would generate points, having 41 wins last season between Cloutier & Auld, but we didn't see the injury to Cloutier (who does?). Luongo's stock does go up from a 35-game winner to a 40-game winner.

Dallas upgrades their defense in Jaroslav Modry with this deal. Modry, a good mobile defenseman who finished with 38 points, is always a good pickup in most pools. Look for his stock to go up with the Western juggernaut. Niko Kapanen will probably not play with Kovalchuk, so don't get your hopes up with this young kid. He'll roughly average the same 35 points in Atlanta as well.

Calgary acquires Alex Tanguay from Colorado for Jordan Leopold and a couple picks.

Well, believe it or not, the Flames got a whole lot of something for a whole lot of nothing. A keen upgrade of Alex Tanguay makes the stock of Jarome Iginla go through the roof. A talented playmaker like Tanguay was exactly what the Flames have been missing and there is no doubt that he'll excel and make his linemates excel at the same time. Leopold, on the other hand, will come into the Avalanche as the third or fourth defenseman, probably seeing a downgrade in ice time. The new GM for the Avs is high on Leopold, but I would be surprised if the coaching staff had the same sentiment.

The Wild want Marian Gaborik to stick around, badly. Getting Pavol Demitra does two things for the Wild... it gives Gaborik a veteran countryman to help sort him out and it gives them a little more scoring now. This does probably mean that the Wild got better, and if Demitra and Gaborik can stay healthy, there's a great chance that the Wild will have quite a few more than the team's 231 goals in 2005/'06. The Kings on the other hand, picked up the AHL's rookie-of-the-year in Patrick O'Sullivan, who has an awesome upside. New GM Dean Lombardi may have shifted the focus of the Los Angeles organization to go for more youth, but it could take a bit more time to develop the team, as they are a couple seasons behind. O'Sullivan is a good bet to make the team and is also a good bet to be a decent sleeper in next season's pool.

The Maple Leafs picked up goaltender Andrew Raycroft from the Bruins for Finnish prospect Tukka Rask.

The Leafs needed goaltending and they needed it now. The Bruins have goaltending and there is no reason why you can't stock up for the future. That's the essence of the deal here. The Leafs didn't exactly want to bank on J-S Aubin or Mikael Tellqvist next season, although Aubin showed some real good poise coming into relief late last season. Raycroft, a former Calder trophy winner, took a hard hit from the sophomore jinx and the Leafs will put their eggs in the basket that he'll rebound quite nicely from it. In dealing Tukka Rask, they only give up a prospect who was falling behind Justin Pogge in the depth chart in Toronto and they'd both probably bloom at the same time. Boston doesn't need goaltending now, but they have been known to dessimate goaltending careers in a big hurry.Technorati TagsNHLHockey PoolTradesFlorida PanthersVancouver CanucksCalgary FlamesMinnesota Wild

It's all over!! The Carolina Hurricanes are 2006 Stanley Cup Champions, beating the Oilers 3-1 last night in a fairly convincing fashion, as I am to understand. (I didn't get to watch all the game). I'm sure most of you did get to watch the game, especially if you have been paying attention to the pool and/or just a plain ol' hockey fan.

The Dewhirst Destroyers have offically claimed the $390 first prize money, so congratulations to them. I will be contacting them this week to arrange giving the prize to them. They convincingly took the big money with a lot of faith in the Edmonton Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes, being one of two teams in the pool to have the maximum 6 players left for the final series. But it was the inclusion of Dwayne Rolson for the Destroyers that brought the pool to its knees, since Cam Ward wasn't taken by any team.

There is no place like home. There is no place like home. The Edmonton crowd got behind their team and it seemed to make a huge difference in Game 6. The Oilers played huge... so huge in fact, that Jussi Markkanen didn't have many pucks slip through the defense only making 16 saves for the shutout. Fernando Pisani, the local boy making good, had a couple of non-pool counting points, including the winner. Jaroslav Spacek & Ryan Smyth padded the Destroyers lead in the pool with a few points between them.

Also in the pool, the K-9 Fornicators fell out of the Top 10, falling to Bubbs, who is the only other team with the maximum amount of players left in the pool. Bubbs could move a couple more places in Game 7.

Yeah, you aren't dreaming. There's going to be a Game 6 in Edmonton. I'm sort of glad... in a way... that'll get to watch all of Game 6, thanks to the Oilers overtime win, but there is also a part of me that just wants it all to be over so I can officially finish this hockey pool. Ha ha.

Did you see that goal by Pisani though?? I've got the end result as the picture, but my goodness... was that ever a nice shot. Jussi Markkanen didn't even have much work in the latter stage of the game, either. He only made 2 saves in the third and overtime combined. What defense by the Oilers.

The Hurricanes though... every point counted. Which extended the lead in points to 24... not like there was any question that the pool wasn't done already, it's just worth mentioning since this is the pool site and there might just be someone still reading it for the playoff pool.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

The countdown to July 1 is only 16 days away... the market will open for business, the teams will be buying to fill some gaps and there will be a few players that will be making just a little bit... oh, who am I kidding... a lot more than they were the season before. This also can affect how you'll be drafting in the hockey pool. Players will move about, creating new and potentially exciting line combinations, all of which will skew your overall decision making process.

As compared to last year's scoring in the pool, here are the top 10 potential unrestricted free agents, come July 1.

Topping the list is centre, Marc Savard, who played last season with Ilya Kovalchuk in Atlanta. He reached the top 10 in points this season with a stellar 97-point season. I think every indication points to Atlanta bringing him back for another season, but if they can't make him put pen to paper before the end of the month, he could be signing with the highest-bidder. Savard has never been one of my favourite players, playing awfully sketchy more often than not. He has, however, climbed the rankings on an annual basis, possibly giving us the conclusion that he is worthy of a very high position in the draft next season.

The Detroit Red Wings have some decisions to make and have already started the process of making them. Manny Legace, Nicklas Lidstrom & Brendan Shanahan all qualify for this list, but it may only end up being Legace making it to the open market. Legace has been given his walking papers for July 1 already by GM Ken Holland, while Shanahan's name has already been mentioned to stick around for at least one more year. Lidstrom provides an interesting conundrum. He will be commanding some top-level money to come back or just sign anywhere and there could be quite a few teams willing to pay him that sort of money. There hasn't been a lot of rumours floating around Lidstrom just as of yet, nor have the Wings been out saying that they've made him their first priority... but I'm sure once the Norris Trophy has been announced, it may well affect how much the Wings will offer him, a week before the deadline.

It would be hard to believe, but Joe Sakic has the chance to test the free-agent waters this summer, should he wish to do so. Sakic, a career Nordique/Avalanche player, will more than likely choose to remain with the franchise, but the free-agent market is a good way to drive up your salary, especially if you're holding out for those few pennies more. #19 will be hung from the rafters bearing Sakic's name when he retires and I think... no, no... honestly, truly believe he'll retire an Avalanche. It seems awfully likely he'll sign a deal to finish his career there.

38 wins in the season, 1 win in the playoffs (a shutout at that) will create a buzz around Martin Gerber here in the off-season. Gerber, who has been sitting in the shadows of young, Cam Ward, will probably hit the market on the 1st of July, making way for Ward to be the number one in Carolina. There are quite a few teams who will shop for a goalie in the off-season and with the numbers Gerber put up, there is a good chance he'll be one of the first to go. Tenth on the list of potential UFA's is a guy who won't make much of a splash, despite his potential Stanley Cup ring, Mark Recchi. It is understood when he was traded to the Hurricanes on the deadline that he would return to Pittsburgh as a UFA to finish his career. Another season with an increasingly offensive potential such as Crosby or Malkin, could make Recchi a decent player, despite his declination in the rankings from a few years ago.

For what could be a runner-up for the Comeback Player of the Year, Jason Arnott could be one of two things... 1) a player who has been reborn into the dominating centre he was drafted to be in Edmonton or 2) a player who is taking advantage of his free-agent status by having a good year before, a la Alexander Mogilny. Arnott did in fact have a career year in points and games played this year and has been progressing more and more as he matures, so you could venture the guess that the first option could be potentially correct. With Dallas' depth at centre a little bit of a concern, it should be fair to say that Dallas will probably look to re-sign him before he hits the market and before he gets any more offers to know what he's worth on the market. Playing second fiddle in the middle to Mike Modano does relieve a lot of pressure he felt in New Jersey and Edmonton to be the number one guy. This role may actually be better suited again next season as it will repeat.

Martin Straka made a miraculous recovery to his career, centering or being a wingmate to Jaromir Jagr all year. Hey, you would too under those circumstances. Straka jumped back into the top 50 of scoring in the pool with his 76-point season, which may or may not have made his $3-million price tag worth while. Straka will also benefit from a raise in the salary cap number, which we are expecting to see rather soon, so he could make the same or a little bit more than his last contract. It may be a priority to sign Straka up to another year for the Rangers... as they might do with most of their Czech free agents. Straka being the first line player that he is on the team, may mean that he'll be more likely to sign on... after the market opens.

The Tampa Bay Lightning didn't even come close to defending their Cup title this season and there is a few reasons why... but the undeniable first reason would be goaltending. John Grahame had a non-Khabibulin year sharing the duties with Sean Burke, but still captured 68 points to help the Lightning reach the playoffs this year. Grahame has not been one of the better goalies in the league and has jumped from place to place in his career. With all the free-agent goaltenders possibly on the market this year, I think it's safe to say that you can add Grahame to that list as he probably won't return to the Lightning for another term.

Finally, the taste of determination may still linger on the tongue of Dominik Hasek. The 41-year-old keeper may return to get another kick at the Cup, but that's still at least one more decision away. Hasek registered 66 points last season, before getting injured and giving way to Ray Emery, and may declare himself fit during the summer to make yet another comeback.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Brian Burke kept the scoring leader of the Ducks at the pond for yet another season today. Teemu Selanne, the Finnish Flash, will return to the Arrowhead Pond in October to try and improve on the Western Conference Final finish of this past season.

The 35 year old forward enjoyed renewed success after re-joining the Ducks last summer. He finished with 40 goals and 50 assists to finish 15th in last year's regular season pool scoring and then finished the playoffs with 7 goals and 7 assists, including 2 game winners.

His signing will boost the respectibility of the franchise and is an essential building block to the Ducks success next season. I'm sure that he'll figure to be an integral part of someone's hockey pool team... if not mine. Ha ha. Finishing 15th last season will probably make his pool positioning in the first round of selections, if not, a very high second round pick.Technorati TagsNHLHockey PoolAnaheim DucksTeemu Selanne

Well, the rabbit is out of the hat. The Hurricanes took one game from Rexall Place and now lead the series 3-1 heading back to the RBC Center in Raleigh. There's very little that could compare to how clutch this win is for the 'Canes, because in all likelihood now, they won't have to return to Edmonton.

Cam Ward was again solid in the nets for Carolina, making 20 saves for his 14th win of the playoffs. He now leads the pool players with 32 points. Geez... if only we had him, right? Mark Recchi scored the winner for the Hurricanes last night, giving him the bonus point. Cory Stillman had a goal and an assist in the win last night, making him the second highest scoring picked player in the pool, one point behind Dwayne Roloson. Eric Staal also had a pair of assists, which puts him in third of all picked players in the pool. Frank Kaberle also added an assist.

As for the Oilers lone goal, Sergei Samsonov took an excellent pass from Radek Dvorak to score. Jarret Stoll added the other assist. For Dvorak, that was his first point of the playoffs, which unfortunately for the two teams that picked him, this was actually the case.

The pool may be out of reach now, but Edmonton has fought back to take Game 3 in quite the dramatic fashion. Ryan Smyth scored his only game-winning goal so far in the playoffs to lift the Oilers on home-ice and get themselves back into this Cup Final series. The backup-cum-starting goaltender, Jussi Markkanen had stepped up to make 24 good saves in the Oilers victory... which his two points won't be counted by anyone in the pool.

Game 4 goes tonight on CBC & NBC at 6pm.

Well, it is now definitely unlikely that the 19-point lead for the win will be conquered by the Halos. With only a maxinum of 4 games left in the series and a lead that has grown yet again, the Halos, although they may have already, have settled into their role as second place.

Nobody in the pool took him, of course, but Jussi Markkanen was available on your picking sheet, in case you thought that Dwayne Roloson was gonna get injured late in Game 1 of the Cup Finals... you know, because you knew the Oilers were gonna get this far. Markkanen, however, couldn't stop the internal bleeding of confidence for the Oilers and the dream of another Cup in Edmonton is fading away. The Hurricanes have a good hold on the series with the Oilers and now the Destroyers have upped their lead to 15 points, which has almost certainly given them the win for the year.

Cam Ward last night became the best player in the pool with his 4-point night... it brought his playoff season total to 30 points. It's a shame no one took him. The highest scoring skater in the pool was taken 12 times... Cory Stillman leads all skaters with 24 points, one ahead of teammate Eric Staal.

After two periods, no one would have thought that Game 1 would be the bearer of bad news to the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers were up 3-1 at the 2nd break and then the wheels suddenly came off. The Hurricanes brought the game back from the deficit with 4 unanswered goals, before Ales Hemsky made it interesting and with a replacement goalie in the net, the Hurricanes ice it with a Rod Brind'Amour wrap-around winner.

The real turning point of the series could be that Oilers goalie and leading point getter in the pool, Dwayne Roloson, has injured his knee and won't be able to participate in the remainder of the finals. A devastating blow to the Oilers hopes for glory. If in fact Roloson isn't able to continue on, it will leave the Destroyers only 5 players in the pool to keep things a float in the lead.

The lead remained 12 points after Game 1, but if the Oilers can capitalize on some gut-checks, then the Destroyers won't be able to count any of those winning points. The Hurricanes, on the other hand, are expected to collectively romp now over the Oilers, as secondary goaltending for the Oil had been suspect through the regular season... especially when it was the primary goaltending before the trade deadline.

Monday, June 05, 2006

In retrospect of the 2005/06 season, I'm looking over a lot of the pool numbers from last season and in comparison to seasons past, we've found ourselves with a huge overhaul of the Top 10 players, in regards to pool points.

If I was to use my system of points, there were 9 new faces in the Top 10 from the 2003/04 season, Ilya Kovalchuk (#6 in 'o4, #9 in '06) is the only one who remains. Kovalchuk's emergence in '04 was forecasting big things for the 23 year-old Russian and he didn't disappoint... except in the pre-season when no one knew if he was going to play for the Thrashers or not. He did... and oh boy, did he play. His 52 goals last season was almost the best in the league only bested by a few. His stock will be pretty high during the off-season and come the September drafting time, he'll be a definite first-rounder.

The top scorer of 2005/06, Joe Thornton, made his mark in San Jose after his mid-season trade from Boston. Thornton teamed up with Jonathon Cheechoo (#11 in '06) to capture both the Art Ross Trophy and Rocket Richard trophy, respectively. It was a devastating duo in San Jose and Thornton finally emerged as the superstar he was touted as back in 1997. He has been a Top 10 performer before, mind you... he finished 5th in '03, but slipped down to 29th in '04 due to some injuries and a lacklustre Bruin team. Make no mistake though, Thornton will be a force to be reckoned with in '07, thanks to the new rules.

Number two on the list from '06 is Jaromir Jagr. The guy finally came to play this past season, unfortunately for him, he let the scoring lead and goal scoring lead slip from underneath him by the end of the year... but it was still an impressive run, nonetheless. Jagr's 54 goals in Ranger blue was the club's highest in history and so was his 123 points in total. Jagr hasn't always been a stranger from the upper eschelon of scoring, winning the Art Ross trophy a couple times in his career, but it's been a long time since that has actually happened. Still, despite his grand totals of accolades he'll receive in the off-season, as a poolie, I still have trouble trusting the guy... his tempermental approach to the game could be swayed fairly easy, which doesn't attract him to my pool team by any stretch of the imagination.

The debate that raged rather heavily at the start of the season was, "Who is better: Ovechkin or Crosby?" Well, in pool standards last season, Alexander Ovechkin finished #3 in '06 to Sidney Crosby's #7... which is unbelievable numbers for the two young rookies. Ovechkin finished with 106 points and Crosby finished with an admirable 102. With these two players making such a big splash in the league last season, it gives a couple more options as to who you'd feel more comfortable taking first overall in your pool. Both players were sort of mid-draft picks in both pools I was in last season, but look to be easy first rounders. How's that for being fresh-faced in the new NHL?

There was no real surprise to know who the best goalie in the pool was... because there was only one in the Top 10 in pool scoring last year. Miikka Kiprusoff dominated in the net for the Calgary Flames, registering a league-high 10 shutouts. Kiprusoff finished #4 in '06 with his 42 wins, a league-best save percentage and quite possibly a Vezina Trophy to cap off a stellar season. This is his first season finishing in the Top 10 of pool scoring, as he didn't get a full season in '04, yet still finishing #15. He may now be proving that he is the best goalie in the league and should be a popular pick again in '07... a definite first-rounder.

It was only a matter of time before Daniel Alfredsson hit the Top 10 in pool scoring and he finally did it in '06, reaching #5. He finished #15 in '04, #26 in '03 and #38 in '02... and now he's made into the elite company of the Top 10 in scoring. It certainly helped that his linemate, Dany Heatley finished #6 in scoring as well. The dynamic duo, centred by Jason Spezza (#15 in '06), were mighty dominant all year, when they were healthy, of course. If the line remains the same in '07, all three will look for Top 10 spots again in the pool. Spezza, however, is a Restricted Free Agent and may feel the pinch due to the large contracts for Redden & Chara that may need to be signed as well. That's a whole lot of money to dole out in the summer. Nevertheless, both Alfie and Heatley are looking to be perennial visitors of the Top 10 list.

The only way to make the season better for 100 point getter, Eric Staal, will be to beat the Oilers in the Cup Finals over the next week or so. The 2nd overall pick in 2003 came up trumps after a huge year in the AHL in '05 to score 45 goals in the NHL, to lead the Hurricanes into 2nd place in the East and now the birth in the Stanley Cup Finals starting tonight. He was an absolute force, with his 81 PIM in 81 games and also ranking in the Top 20 in shots on goal. Staal is quite possibly one of the better cornerstone players to build a franchise around, if not a dynasty in the salary capped NHL. His stock will soar... especially if there's a little more help to come for him in the next season or two.

Finally, the Top 10 is rounded out by Marc Savard with his 97 points to slot him into #10 for '06. The main benefactor of Kovalchuk's 98 point season, Savard will command some serious dough as the Unrestricted Free Agent he is. Savard sure knows how to ride some coattails of his more efficient teammates, but he does the trick, making him somewhat of a hot commodity, as much as some hockey people I know hate to admit it. It was a career year for Savard, eclipsing his previous best in points of 65 for Calgary in '01. It was career highs in almost every category for Savard, but the real question is can he do it again? Watch the contract negotiations this year... where will he end up?

The goalies didn't fare so well in '06, losing jobs, injuries, getting traded... and the new points system also took away possible points for ties, as Shootout & Overtime losses didn't count in my pool this year. It was good to see a lot more forwards jumping up into the Top 10... it made scoring a lot more important than the win column for goalies. Look for that same trend in '07.Technorati TagsNHLHockey Pool

Here we are... the day of the Finals. The Oilers and the Hurricanes will do battle tonight in Raleigh, North Carolina to begin the final stage in the Quest for the Cup.

It has been a bit of a ride so far, in which the biggest surprise, especially in the pool, is that the Oilers have made it this far. With the 90 selections of Hurricanes and finishing second in the Eastern Conference, it was no real surprise to anyone that Carolina made it to the finals. The 13 Oiler selections showed no confidence by the pool in Edmonton. They made it pretty far, going through tough competition and now they have been rewarded with at least 4 games in the final.